Improvement in portable fences



J.- G. SUTTON. PORTABLE FENCES.

Nuo. 194,187. l Patenya Aug. 141,187.7.

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ATT'ORN EYS NPerens, PnoTo-Llmqdpmsa, wAsnwaToN. u c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN G. SUTTON, OF ROGKPORT, MISSOURI.

IMPROVEMENT IN PORTABLE FENCES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 194,187, dated August 14, 1877; application filed May 1, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN G. SUTTON, of Rockport, in the county of Atchison and State of Missouri, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in Portable Fences; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a representation of a plan view of my fence, and Fig. 2 is a sectional rletail view of the same. Fig. 3 is a front elevation, and Fig. 4 is a sectional detail View.

This invention has relation to improvements in portable fences; and the nature of the invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of the parts forming a fence, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

l In the annexed drawings, A A' designate the posts ot' my improved fence, the former bring those which are designed to be 4placed at the corners, and the latter those which support the panels constituting the continuation ofthe fence. These posts are, in cross-section, of trapezoidal form, and a numberl of converging mortises, t', equal to that of the panelboards designed to be used are cut therein, into which mortises are passed, from opposite sides of the posts, tenons on the ends of panel-boards B, which are subsequently keyed into position by means of wedges a.

In practice it will not be necessary to use the Wedges with al1 the boards constituting a panel, it being deemed sufcient to key the top and bottom rails; or, wherethe fence is of unusual height, an intermediate rail may also be keyed or wedged to the posts, since, so long as the said rails are held to their engagement with their posts, they will maintain the others in position. By this means the panels constituting the continuous fence will describe a serpentine or zigzag line, thereby broadening the base of each pair of panels, and rendering them in a very great degree self-supporting; but, as in certain situations they will be much exposed, I propose to further brace them against being upset by means of stays S, applied alternately inside and outside throughout the length of the fence, except at the corners, where they will be unnecessary. These stays are of wood, and they are driven into the ground With their upper pointed ends engaged in an eyebolt, c, or in a notch cut into the said posts for their reception.

Corner-posts A will be made With their mortises at various angles to each other, so that the panels, of which they sustain one end,

may conform to the angles ot' a space intended to be inclosed, and the boards, in lieu of being passed into the said corner-posts from opposite sides, as is the case in the continuation ofthe fence, are passed therein from the same side, forming an acute, obtuse, or right angle with each other, as the case may be.

In lieu of cutting mortises i in posts A A as above described, I may, if I so elect, substitute converging grooves cut in the converging sides of the said posts, which grooves will then be covered by a facing-stud, d., with the same effect.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is A A portable fence consisting of the post A', having the converging mortises t' and eyebolts o, the post A, having converging mortises t', the panel-boards B, and the pointed stay-rods S, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I claim the above I have l hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN G. SUTTON. Witnesses: J. H. SHEPPEnsoN, J. W. BLEviNs. 

